UN report: Malaysia's national poverty line does not reflect reality, needs revision

Philip Alston visits an indigenous community settlement in Sarawak. – Bassam Khawaja 2019

PETALING JAYA: Malaysia appears to have backtracked on its previous commitment to revise the national poverty line, says Philip Alston, the former United Nations special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights.

Based on a visit to Malaysia in August 2019, Alston's report released on Monday (July 6) stated that the national poverty rate of just 0.4% – the lowest in the world – was "misleadingly low and unrealistic".